Private equity giant Blackstone is going big on Japan, acquiring a majority stake in the country’s leading contract research organization, CMIC.
Blackstone now owns 60% of the CRO, the New York-based firm announced in a March 3 release, while CMIC’s holding company owns the remaining 40%. Blackstone didn't reveal the purchase price for the CMIC stake.
“This is a continuation of our strong commitment to Japan—one of our fastest-growing markets globally—and investing in our high conviction theme, life-sciences-related services, where we’ve built a meaningful portfolio in Japan and around the world,” Atsuhiko Sakamoto, Blackstone Japan’s head of private equity, said in the release.
Founded in 1992, CMIC was Japan’s first CRO and is its largest, with operations in 12 countries including Australia, China, South Korea and Taiwan.
The company is no stranger to the U.S., either, having struck partnerships in recent years with the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, and Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Blackstone has recently been busy in Japan, as showcased by its May 2024 acquisition of clinical trial management company I’rom Group.
Blackstone isn’t the only American private equity firm betting big on healthcare in the land of the rising sun. Last month, Bain Capital triumphed in a bidding war to acquire Japan’s Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma for $3.3 billion, carving it out from parent company Mitsubishi Chemical Group.
Blackstone’s CMIC buy follows several of its recent stateside biotech ventures, including its move to pledge up to $750 million to Moderna to support mRNA flu vaccines and the $300 million unveiling of a new immunology and inflammation biotech, Uniquity Bio, complete with a phase 2 antibody licensed from Merck & Co.